Chapter 11: The Prince and the Monster
365 Words
Outside, Lucien waited.
"So," he said with a smile," the prince has finally come to die."
Devin drew the silver sword that had belonged to his father.
"I have come to end this."
The duel begins.
They move faster than the human eye could follow.
Steel clashed against steel.
The streets cracked beneath their strength.
Lucien was ruthless.
Every wound he suffered healed almost instantly as he drained life from the darkness surrounding him.
But Devin refused to yield.
For every strike Lucien landed, Devin answered with another.
Neither noticed the sun beginning to rise.
Until Lucien smiled.
"You've forgotten one thing."
He reached into his coat and produced a small silver locket.
Devin froze.
Inside was a faded portrait of Evelyn Hawthorne.
"I kept this," Lucien whispered.
"She begged me to spare you."
Devin's face crumpled.
"You lied."
Lucien laughed.
"I lie about many things."
"But not that."
His distraction lasted only a heartbeat.
Long enough for Lucien's blade to pierce Devin's chest.
The Prince collapsed.
"No!"
Nina’s scream echoed across Blackwood.
She ran to Devin, dropping to her knees beside him.
His heartbeat was fading.
His silver eyes struggled to stay open.
"Nina..."
"Don't."
"Please don't leave me."
He smiled weakly.
"You made eternity feel... worth believing in again."
She shook her head violently.
"No."
"There has to be another way."
The Moon Crystal pulsed in her hands.
Seraphina's voice echoed in her mind.
"Two hearts willingly joined..."
Nina finally understood.
The ritual had never required a sacrifice.
It requires trust.
She placed the crystal between them.
"I choose you."
The Blood Moon Mark blazed with brilliant light.
Silver and crimson swirled together until neither color could be separated from the other.
The crystal shattered.
A wave of radiant energy swept across Blackwood.
Every rouge vampire dropped to their knees.
Lucien screamed.
His stolen immortality unraveled.
His centuries of stolen lives escaped him as streams of silver light, returning to the world he wounded.
"You've ruined everything!" he cried.
"No," Nina answered, standing beside Devin.
"We're ending it."
The Guardian descended from the sky.
With one thunderous roar, it opened its jaws.
Moonlight engulfed Lucien.
When the light faded...
He was gone.
Forever.
- Writer
